ABOUT THE RATINGS:
Recordings featured in Norse Code are rated in several different ways. Discs are assigned an Overall Rating (OR) from 1 to 10. 10 indicates a masterpiece or “Essential” album, 5 indicates a pretty good album that could have used a few more strong songs or more creative energy, and a 1 or 2 would be a largely disappointing or uninteresting record.

Otherness Measure or Otherness Meter (OM) is a rating, from 1 to 5, that indicates the aesthetic/cultural uniqueness of a work, i.e., how Scandinavian is it? Are certain elements mysterious or challenging? Stated another way, it’s the distance a recording travels from established formulas, regardless of how strong the performances or production may be. See the first installment of Norse Code for a more detailed explanation.

Finally, we’ve created the special ranking of Certified Scandinavian Classic (CSC) to indicate truly stellar recordings that also proudly reflect their Scandinavian origins in some manner. These are works that help the uninitiated to understand why some of us believe Scandinavia is producing much of the richest popular music in the world.